In A Dire Market, One Country Still Cares (Little Upsilon)

To rep: I remember reading the the first attempts at metallurgy was an accident; someone put metal over a fire, the metal either melted or became malleable, then that person banged on it for a while until it suddenly became stronger.

I wish I could be more precise or offer up a link to where I got that from, but I don't remember the details or the link. But its true I tell ya.

Yeah most types of metal alloys were discovered accidentally. Steel is another good example. They were heating iron over a coal fire and left it sitting there and when they came back and hammered it into a spearhead, they found that it was stronger for some reason and they had no idea why. The smith was baffled, so he tried it again. He left another piece of iron on the coal fire and then came back and found that it, too, was stronger than usual. What actually happened was that the carbon contained in the coal was forming an alloy with the iron, and it gained some of carbon's properties, such as hardness. Afterwards, that smith made all of his things on a coal fire, and steel weapons were born. Interesting, huh?

Vlad, I think someone set up a 'Russian Republic' in Scorfu. You should demand a name change or have them expelled to Siberia.

Lol

Poison and Vlad,

Interesting info. In some ways the ancients were up to par with us. The Greeks used steam power; the Egyptians had a chemical form of electricity.
Archaeologists discovered a battery in one of the tombs which after charging still functioned.